Press Cameroon on Union`s rights, top union activist tells the International community

Jean Marc Bikoko, Cameroonian best known union leader has urged the International community to press Yaounde on human rights and union rights issues last week, as the head of state Paul Biya returned from his incredible stay in Europe without informing his own people.

Jean Marc Bikoko during his intervention exposing public sector working worst condition in cameroon..

 He was arrested on Friday 12 November while protesting for decent working conditions in work place in Cameroon for civil servant or public sector workers and then released after being charged with organizing an illegal protest.

Jean Marc is well known union activist in Cameroon and this is not the first time he has been  arrested by authorities.

Talking to him on the phone last week before his arrest, Jean Marc said, there has been a pitiful change in global attitudes to Cameroon since the president amended the constitution and also the wee economic crisis with western and African leaders increasingly reluctant to challenge Yaounde.

The international community should ask mister Biya and his administration not to make people disappear or to jail them merely because they have different opinions or they are expressing what they think it is their own right and right to do that.

Jean Marc was arrested with others members who in the last hours have been released form police cell and will have to attend the court for their crime.

Jean Marc crime is to have  organised a demo and a sit-in in front of the prime minister building in Yaounde in order to hand him a memo regarding the pitiful working conditions of civil servant in Cameroon.

Jean Marc is just asking the prime minister to have a proper look at what it is happening and to bring a change that cost nothing.

The memo writing by the Centrale Syndicale du secteur public is a bible of pitiful description of the worst conditions in which civil servant  or public sector workers are working in, like not having simple and cheaper desk to work, not been able to have a simple and cheaper pen to write, no toilet tissue in the toilet for those who are lucking enough to have public toilet in use in their department, not even simple basics for the work place.

The state budget is over 2 500 billion cfa francs  and nothing or less has been done for that to change...This is the fight Jean Marc has been arrested for and will have to appear in front of the judge this week . He could be sentenced for..many months in prison...

But...Union and collective organisation rights are principally governed by the Trade and Labour Relations, and Cameroon has signed that convention as well and need to respect and have it in practice.

Cameroon still and remain a < highly corrupt > country

The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index  released today shows that Cameroon despite government < efforts> of creating by degree and putting in place untrustworthy mechanism and general policy of fighting against corruption, in the Index scores 2.2, which means a highly corrupt country.

This new release report damaged once more Paul Biya`s administration on their own way of fighting against corruption. Far too much of the debate about the size of corruption is being conducted in Cameroon where officials are trying to justify efforts that have been done since 2000.

Me Akere Muna,Cameroon- TI, vice- chair...


Yet there is far too little focus on what other countries are doing to fight against corruption. There is a growing consensus that growth among Biya entourage won`t revert the fight against corruption.

 There is much nonsense around about how Cameroon is about to fight against corruption .

Transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption according to, Me Akere Muna, vice-chair of Transparency International, cameroon branch. Speaking on the phone, Me Akere Muna said that < What this report is saying is there are still much more to do than what the government is trying to do by just creating bureaucratic and administrative holes of corruption, and in cameroon here it is very difficult to read and even to know what  is the general policy or the mechanism to fight against corruption. Apart from seeing and learning that some government ministers, from Paul Biya political party, the Cameroon People Democratic Movement ( CPDM)  have been arrested, detained and sent to  jail for embezzlement and corruption could sound as a good thing but it does not tell exactly how the government operate in the fight against corruption.
The political environment itself it like payback time where those in power show the rest that they have an unconstitutional power to arrest and detain whosoever they want and send the person in prison even without charges.
In Africa they will say that Paul Biya by sending his own people in jail in doing a good job. This is the way they do in cameroon and also the 66 article from the constitution that oblige people to declare their possession and belongings before taking an elective office is not yet implemented. That one should be the one that will open the country a new  way of dealing with corruption. Biya can arrest who he likes and all are members of his own political party and not from the opposition. The today`s report just confirm the reality of what is happening in cameroon...>.

 Cameroon needs to bolster his good governance mechanism said Muna before concluding that the system in place in cameroon does not allow and even permit the country to bolster the good governance.

Corruption and poverty remain an obstacle in cameroon to achieve much needed progress. When Biya was re-elected in 2007 he said that corruption and poverty were going to be his fight and more that 3 years after that and nearly 14 years on, cameroon still and remain a highly corrupted country in the world and today now far behind Zimbabwe.

To address corruption and poverty, Paul Biya administration  needs to integrate anti-corruption measures in all spheres,  to eradicate poverty and corruption. These measures are there in place in cameroon but do not work as expected. and why? Right this is  the question millions are asking themselves without answers. Cameroon this year scores 2.2 and is 146 of 178 countries.

Huguette Labelle, TI Chair..


According to Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International, Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. This definition encompasses corrupt practices in both the public and private sectors. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries according to perception of corruption in the public sector. The CPI is an aggregate indicator that combines different sources of information about corruption, making it possible to compare countries.

And this is what she said when she was in cameroon, <in governmental department programs such as in customs and state enterprises would go a long way to prevent corruption and establish mechanisms for early detection of misappropriations, fraud and major losses of essentials resources. In all organizations there are numerous ways of defrauding the organization. Corruption risk assessment .

Neglect in this regard can be very costly and bring down the reputation of and enterprise, something very difficult to rebuild. The most fundamental element of a Good Governance Doctrine is for all countries to have a well performing justice system with an independent, professional and properly resourced judiciary and with a professional and ethical police force....>  Unfortunately, cameroon just show that it  is not yet ready for it and that it is a long long way to go...